Dear Estella,

12. the plush tiger

double update! if you accidentally missed the last chapter, make sure to go back and read eleven before this one :)

"What's going on between you and my best friend?" Asher asks as he casually jogs up to me, slowing to a walk as I make my way back to the main hall.

All of the students are currently waiting for the counselor's to reveal their surprise activity. Everyone's starting to get impatient as we all huddle around in anticipation.

"What do you mean?" I ask, hardly paying him any attention as I search for Vanessa and Madison, who have seemed to disappear at the perfect time.

"What do you mean what do I mean?" He asks as he casually drapes an arm over my shoulder. "You know what I mean."

"I didn't do anything," I defend quickly. A little too quickly, considering the teasing face Asher makes at me.

After Aaron and I talked, I left to find Vanessa and Madison, who were near one of the girls' cabins, chatting with some of the others they sit with at lunch. I sat on the swinging bench outside of the cabin, listening to their conversation about whether or not they were going to swim in the camp pool.

Fast-forward twenty minutes, we were ordered to head back to the mess hall for the quote unquote, special surprise. I walked over with both of the girls, but ultimately lost them in the huge crowd waiting outside of the hall.

"Hey, I don't judge." He grins, holding both hands up. "I mean— I'll be honest here. I didn't expect for it to happen so fast. But I'm happy for you guys. Truly."

I shake my head as talks. "No, no. Asher, I don't know what you mean, and I don't think I want to know what you mean. But nothing happened—"

"Hey." He cuts me off, placing a hand on each of my shoulders as he looks at me with a serious expression. "I support it. One-hundred percent. Okay— maybe not 100. Like 94 point... two? Either way, you don't have to be embarrassed, Estella."

I'm beginning to think that sex is the only thing Asher ever thinks about. I wonder what the inside of his mind looks like.

Scratch that. I definitely don't want to know.

My eyebrows furrow as I continue to shake my head rapidly at his words. "No! Asher, stop. I don't know what Aaron told but we didn't... nothing happened between me and him. We just talked."

He smiles, rolling his eyes. "Okay, Estella, whatever you say. I just thought we were friends and that we would be able to talk about this kinda stuff."

I slap his arm. Hard.

"Ow! Fuck, what was that for?"

"You know what that was for!"

He's about to respond when his focus switches to the long line of counselors heading out of the main hall. Each of them hold a large red circular bin in their arms as they approach the impatient group of students.

"Alright! Settle down everyone!" One of them shouts through a megaphone. "Who's ready for—"

"YEAH!" Someone hollers from somewhere behind Asher and I. He furrows his eyebrows as he looks behind him to see who yelled. Smiling, I do the same.

"Thanks for the enthusiasm," the counselor calls back, amused. "So, ladies and gentlemen... inside of these bins," he gestures to the eight large bins lined in front of the building. "Are over 600 water balloons!"

My eyes widen, knowing that giving a routy group of at least 200 seniors isn't going to be the brightest idea. I can practically feel Asher already ready to pounce to grab as many as he possibly can.